Posted by
EWRoss on Monday, November 16, 2009 7:00:00 AM
Too often, the debate over whether certain terrorists are criminals or enemy combatants is conducted on ideological and philosophical grounds where partisan politics gets in the way. It ignores the practical reasons why this isn't a good idea and why it makes us more vulnerable.
Many argue that fighting al-Qaeda and the Taliban on the battlefield is one thing, but we should use the criminal justice system to bring foreign terrorists who attack us in the US to justice. They find the idea of "a war on terror" to deal with them objectionable. They believe it puts us at odds with the Muslim world and gets in the way of winning hearts and minds with outreach to them. We should prevent terror attacks with good police work.
The problem with this is that the criminal justice system is ill-suited for that task, especially protecting Americans from international terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda. The focus of the criminal justice system is collecting evidence, preserving it for trial, and protecting the Constitutional rights of the accused. Captured foreign terrorists (enemy combatants) do not have the same Constitutional rights as US citizens, and granting them such rights inhibits our ability to deter, prevent, and defend against terrorist attacks. Collecting and preserving evidence inhibits intelligence collection and intelligence sharing.
When we catch a Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed after the fact on foreign soil, it's far more important that we use every lawful technique to learn everything he knows rather than reading him his rights and giving him a lawyer so as not to prejudice the case against him in court. In an age when terrorists may soon possess nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, we can not afford to do otherwise.
The most precious American value is the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The paramount responsibility of government is to defend us against their loss.